David Beltran & Diana Bowden

David Beltran, Diana Bowden—partners in art, ideology

Story by Khai Clardy

Edited by Gretchen Sterba

Photos by Alejandra Rodriguez

Walking into David “Bae Cutler” Beltran and Diana Bowden’s cozy Logan Square apartment, positive vibes flow in from the natural lighting, a coffee table made out of vintage suitcases holds vinyl records and magazines, and tape cassettes hang on the wall next to a vibrant poster hovering over more music, a suitable aesthetic for two of Chicago’s political artists.

Growing up in Chicago, 32-year-old Beltran was influenced by politics. Now he has Bowden, 28, Alabama native, advocating right beside him.

The couple’s personal aesthetics complement each other, with Beltran’s laid back minimalist style and Bowden’s vintage flare. Wearing a black snapback and a black shirt, Beltran talks about his previous projects with passion. Bowden’s short curly hair and dark brown bangs accentuate her bold eyes and rosy cheeks, smiling when she looks at her partner reminisce.

“Together they’re more powerful,” said Joshua Patterson, a resident of Los Angeles, street artist, musician and close friend of the couple.

Bowden is Beltran’s partner and support system, personally and professionally. She has lived in Chicago for seven years, and to her it’s home, where she works and designs for Feeltrip Records.

“It takes a lot of work and we're still growing every year and meeting more people,” she said. Feeltrip Records was founded in 2011 by Beltran and his band mates, Daniel Perzan and Adam Gil.

Beltran attended Chicago Public Schools from grammar school through high school, then attended the School of Art Institute Chicago. He says his background innately makes him a part of the political artist society.

“As an artist, I feel like I am political but there are so many artists from Chicago that are political,” Beltran said. “I think if you're born and raised in Chicago, especially the ’90s, it's going to be some political talk of some sort that you come up with. Whether from your family at the dinner table, or school or racial tensions growing up in poverty.”

After the Laquan McDonald case, Beltran and Bowden felt that Mayor Rahm Emanuel was not doing his job in serving the people, which prompted them to create a WordPress where they sold postcards for people to share their frustrations with the man himself.

“We sent about 100 of them all to Rahm. [People were] saying 'fuck you', 'do your job',” Bowden said. The front of the postcards read “IMPEACH RAHM 2016” in black and white, with a drawing of Emanuel raising the peace sign up with both hands in the air, and the back came with pre-designed memos such as “RECALL RAHM!” and “NOT MY MAYOR!”

Beltran puts his pain and frustration with political leaders into his art, where he advocates self-empowerment.

“I think that's the most important thing is to create self-empowerment, self-awareness, and just being very mindful of the situation,” he said. “I'm just trying to create art that puts a light on something but being somewhat objective, always playing on ideas of the past like what I did with the ‘Impeach Rahm’ piece,” which pretty much went viral.

“The drama with Rahm was relatively small compared to what's going on a federal level right now,” Bowden said.

The two are working on a feminism themed t-shirt in solidarity with Planned Parenthood, which will receive most the proceeds.

They are “hustling 24-hours a day,” Patterson says. Beltran works for delivery services Grubhub and Postmates, and Bowden is a buyer for Pilsen Vintage thrift store.

Patterson and Beltran’s friendship dates back to seven- years- ago when they met at a ‘Yawn’ concert. Most of the work Patterson helps with is revolved around Feeltrip records where he assists on the technical side of things like providing lights for shows, but the real depth of their friendship is loyalty. Patterson describes the couples working dynamic to be “intense” in a good way. “They both help each other move projects in a special way,” Patterson said.

Beltran brings a positively manic energy, and Bowden is great at constructing, organizing, creating content and reigning focus. Their harmonic energy fills their multi-level living and working space, including a basement where their box of “fuck-ups” sits proudly on a shelf.

Beltran’s jet black eyebrows have a curious look and he talks with his hands as Bowden digs through their storage boxes. Their workspace is neat on the surface, but the items on the shelves are piled up with miscellaneous items and past art projects—which attests to Bowden’s organization and Beltran’s creativity. Bowden pulls out a blue-on-white vintage inspired t-shirt they made for the Cubs, a new product for sale on the Bae Cutler website.

Although Beltran has a drive for political art, he has many different passions and doesn’t want to be boxed in. His inspiration comes from all things art related: literature, images, film.

“Inspiration comes from everywhere,” he said, including from his friend Hansky, a political artist based in New York who is known for his “Dump Trump” campaign, which went viral and became a driving force behind the anti-Trump movement.

Moving forward, there is no stopping Beltran, or his supportive counterpart, Bowden. As long as there’s controversy, oppression or a message to be told, the dynamic duo will be ready to tackle it with their art. Beltran finds the beauty and humility of accepting each other’s differences and Bowden plans to continue giving a voice to the “voiceless.”